SoftBank Vision Fund said to hire Deutsche Bank's Rahman for MidEast

The SoftBank Vision Fund, run by billionaire Masayoshi Son, is the world’s biggest pool of money focused on technology, with most contributions coming from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East.

By Bloomberg

Thu 07 Jun 2018 09:50 AM

SoftBank Group Corp. is hiring former Deutsche Bank AG executive Faisal Rahman to head operations in the Middle East for the division that manages its almost $100 billion fund, according to people familiar with the matter.

In the new role at SoftBank Investment Advisors, Rahman will help manage relations with the Vision Fund’s two key backers - Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is confidential. Among other things, he will help the fund set up branches for its portfolio companies in the region, they said.

Rahman and a representative for SoftBank both declined to comment.

The SoftBank Vision Fund, run by billionaire Masayoshi Son, is the world’s biggest pool of money focused on technology, with most contributions coming from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East. The capital has so far been deployed on investments ranging from ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. to chipmaker Nvidia Corp., while spanning businesses engaged in building satellites and making robots to even kale farming.

Rahman, who was co-head of corporate and investment banking for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Deutsche Bank, has left the lender after almost 18 years, people familiar with the matter said earlier on Wednesday. He had become a managing director in 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The senior executive’s departure marks a series of exits from Deutsche Bank’s investment-banking unit as new chief executive officer Christian Sewing seeks to cut costs and refocus on the lender’s European base.

In one of its latest investments, Vision Fund agreed to inject $2.25bn into General Motors Co.’s autonomous-vehicle unit last month, valuing the division at $11.5bn.